Why aristocrats were lining up to the "last court artist" Philip de Laszlo

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the history of art, court painters were not often met, to whom the crowned persons and aristocratic nobility of all ranks were almost in a "queue" to become the happy owners of their own pictorial portrait. One of these inimitable masters in the last century was Hungarian portrait painter Philip Alexis de Laszlo - an artist who subtly felt human nature and filled each of his creations with an “aura” emanating from each specific person. And today in our virtual gallery there are amazing portraits of this painter, who during his lifetime was called "the last court portraitist."

Philip Alexis de Laszlo, in Hungarian Fylop Elek Laszlo (Laub) (1869-1937) - portrait painter of Hungarian-Jewish origin, who became famous for his numerous portraits of monarchs and aristocracy. Stunning artistic technique and author's manner, a subtle understanding of the play of light and shadow, unmistakable recognition of the character, state of mind hidden in the corners of the eyes and lips of the model being portrayed - these are the aspects that distinguished the works of Philippe de Laszlo from many other court portrait painters who ever created …

About the artist

Philip Alexis de Laszlo was born in 1869 in Budapest into the family of a Jewish weaver Adolf Laub and was the eldest son. In 1891, his family changed the name Laub to Laszlo.

In his youth, the future artist was fond of photography, and a little later decided to seriously take up painting and entered the Hungarian National Academy of Arts, where his mentors were famous artists Bertalan Szekey and Karoy Lotz. Later, for his successful studies, Philip was awarded a state scholarship to study at the Royal Bavarian Academy in Munich and at the Julien Academy in Paris.

In Munich in 1892, Laszlo met his future wife Lucy Madeleine Guinness, who traveled to Europe with her sister Eva. The daughters of a famous Irish entrepreneur who had a brewing business were representatives of the wealthy and noble Irish family of Guinness.

When the sisters from Munich went to Paris, Philip fell in love without memory, borrowing money for travel, went after them. However, Lucy's father considered him an inappropriate party for his daughter and forbade the young people to meet.

Only seven years later, when Lucy's father died, the lovers, who had not seen all this time, met again and got married. The marriage took place in Ireland in 1900. It should be noted that their family union was not only long and happy, but also very promising for the aspiring artist. The spouse's friendship and family ties greatly contributed to her husband's reputation and receiving orders from wealthy clients. This, of course, significantly improved the financial situation of their family.

For two years the young couple lived in Budapest, in 1903 Philip and Lucy moved to Vienna, and in 1907 they settled in London. Lucy gave birth to the artist six children, most of whom in the future were married to members of aristocratic families. Despite the fact that the artist traveled a lot around the world to fulfill orders, the capital of foggy Albion became his home for the rest of his life.

And when the leading London portrait painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) retired, the young talented artist Philippe de Laszlo took his vacant place. And for almost three decades, the artist worked tirelessly, creating his stunning portraits, in line for which the entire European nobility lined up.

However, unfortunately, years of painstaking and continuous work made themselves felt. The maestro's heart attack in 1936 was soon followed by another. And in the fall of 1937, at the age of 68, Philip Alexis de Laszlo died at his home in London's Hampstead, where he was buried.

Creative career of a portrait painter

The manner of painting by Philippe de Laszlo, in which he worked, was somewhat remotely reminiscent of the canvases of the European classics who worked in the 16-17 centuries. And although at the beginning of the 20th century, innovative trends such as impressionism, cubism, and modernism were already flourishing, realistic portraits of Philippe de Laszlo were at a great price, since the popularity of the Hungarian portraitist was directly related to society's nostalgia for the older and more familiar art style.

Philippe de Laszlo received his first commission from crowned persons back in 1894, when he was commissioned to paint portraits of the Bulgarian Prince Ferdinand and Princess Maria Louise. The monarchs highly appreciated the work of the master, and since then orders from the royal houses began to come to the artist quite regularly.

Glory, awards and honors

In 1900, the painter sent a portrait of Pope Leo XIII to Paris for the World Exhibition. The sophisticated audience liked the canvas very much, and the jury members were also impressed by it. As a result, Philippe de Laszlo was awarded a large gold medal for this work, which in fact was a pass to the world of famous masters of painting of the first magnitude. It was from that time that the portrait painter began a rapid ascent to the heights of fame and wealth.

By the way, throughout his creative career, the artist has received a huge number of honors and awards. In 1909 he became an honorary member of the Royal Victorian Order, which was awarded to him by Edward VII. In 1912, Philip Laszlo received the nobility from Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. The artist's surname henceforth became Laszlo de Lombos, but in everyday life the artist preferred to keep the old one, ennobling it only with the prefix "de".

The secret of success

The master, for whom the status of “court portraitist” of all Europe was entrenched during his lifetime, was in essence a real painter of human souls, an exponent of the most important, intimate and carefully preserved thoughts and feelings.

Nobles from all over Europe and not only turned to him with orders. And such a wide popularity among the artist was not due to the ability to flatter the client, but to the ability to look deeply into the soul. After all, the peculiarity of the ceremonial portrait initially always meant embellishment or at least retouching of not the most aesthetically attractive features of the client.

Laszlo painted his sitters exactly as he saw them himself. He skillfully “removed” several layers of “psychophysical make-up” from the face of each person he portrayed, lifting the “visor” over the forehead of the formidable and proud monarch, removing the veil from the face of a noble lady, behind whose cold and passionless eyes one could literally hear “the music of her soul.

In his work, he was always guided only by his own impressions. There are no prim "mannequins", "living statues" or impregnable "snow queens" in his portraits. The artist has always bared souls and inspired faces, so the viewer sees in the image of a noble lady only a tired and a little sad, but invariably full of readiness to give her inner light and warmth to a woman, or a loving husband and caring father, who, according to his duty, should be strong and domineering …

De Laszlo always unmistakably transferred personality to the canvas, and not the everyday "mask" that a person, by virtue of his status, was obliged to put on himself when in public. This was the secret of the maestro's success, who became everyone's favorite of the aristocratic society. And they were even willing to pay huge sums of money to him for magnificent portraits, in order to subsequently admire his creations.

Famous clients of the artist

During his creative career, Philippe De Laszlo created many images of prominent people of the era, including monarchs, statesmen, military men, scientists, writers and representatives of the aristocratic nobility, who, as mentioned above, were in the long-awaited line to be captured on canvas by this outstanding artist.

This is one of the master's best works, in which we see a magnificent portrait of the Queen Mother, where the artist captured her in 1925, when she was the young Duchess of York. Wrapped in a blue piece of artfully draped fabric with bare shoulders and three strands of pearls around her neck, the duchess looks just amazing.

The portrait of the now reigning Queen Elizabeth at the age of eight, painted by the artist in 1933, was also considered one of his finest works.

The artist created portraits of members of the royal houses not only of Great Britain, but also of Spain, the Balkan states, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Benito Mussolini. By the way, among the portraits of monarchical persons were representatives of the royal family of the Romanovs. (Unfortunately, they have not survived to this day).

The painter also had significant success in the United States, where his clients were presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Warren Harding, John Calvin Coolidge Jr. and Herbert Hoover, and many other famous American persons.

After reviewing a rather impressive list of portraits of prominent personalities who lived at the turn of the past two centuries, created by Philip de Laszlo, this begs the rhetorical question that Lord Selborne once asked:

Continuing the theme of portrait painters, read: Celebrities of the 19th century in the portraits painted by Vasily Perov for the Tretyakov Gallery.